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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. MERRITT, OF BUFFALO, ,NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JOHN W. A. MEYER, OF SAME PLACE.

STENCIL NUMBERING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 56,674, dated July 24, 1866.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, JAMES M. MERRITT, of the city of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Stencil Apparatus for Numbering; and I hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings7 making part of this specication, in which- Figure l is a plan view, and Fig. 2 a transverse section, of my apparatus.

Like letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts in both iigures.

My invention consists in mounting' in a suitable frame or plate a series of movable slides each of which has the integral iigures from 0 to 9 cut through itin the manner of stencil marking-plates, said frame being provided with apertures correspondin g in size and with the posit-ions occupied by the iigures on the slides, and with a guide or stop to regulate the adjustment of the figures in a proper position when arranging them to form the numbers required, and with a suitable lip or thumbpiecel for holding the apparatus when used.

As shown in the drawings, A represents the frame-plate, having the figure-'openings b c el and the abbreviation No.77 at the left thereof. The back of the plate is provided with lips e c, preferably made by turning over an edge of the thin metal used for stencil-plates, but may be formed by straps, loops, or in any other manner to produce an equivalent effect. These lips form waysin which the figure-slides l 2 and 3 rest and are moved.

The slides consist of narrow strips of metal, each having the nine digits and the cipher (0) stencil-cut through them in a vertical column. These slides may be of any number, according to extent of numbering required, and being arranged side by side in the frame A, the iigures on the right-hand one signify units, those of the next teus, the next hundreds, and so on according to arithmetical progression. A1'- ranged as shown, with three gure-slides, the highest sum attained is999; with four it would be 9,999 5 with five, 99,999.

The method of operating is exceedingly simple. Beginning with the slides drawn down so that the solid metal at the top of each closes the apertures b o d, the rst (l) is moved upward until the figure l is exposed. When this has been marked theslide is raised by inserting the point of a pencil or any blunt instrument into the ligure immediately below the frame and sliding it upward until the guard f stops it, which exposes gure 2. This process being repeated for each igure of slide l, the next (2)-is brought into use in the same manner, the rst being kept stationary at figure till the numbers from l0 to 19 inclusive have been produced, when gure 2 of slide l is brought into use for another series of tens, and so on until 99 is reached, when slide 3 is employed to produce 100.

The thumb-piece B, which forms the upper part of the plate A, enables the person using it to conveniently hold the apparatus by pressing it upon the article to be marked while the change of figures is made and the brush applied.

' The guide f is a straight-edged bar, which strengthens the lower edge of the plate and stops the slides when they are moved upward to change the number in exactly the position required to bring all the figures on a line with the letters No i The slides are moved by inserting any bluntpointed instrument into the figure below the guide j' and moving it upward as far as the guide will permit.

For revenue assessors, inspectors, packers, and others who have occasion to mark progressive numbers this affords a convenient and very portable apparatus, and one by the use of which correctness in numbering is almost certainly insured.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The improved stencil numbering apparatus -herein described, consisting of the plate 0r frame A, with apertures b o d, and the figureslides l 2 3 and guide f, or its equivalent, constructed and arranged substantially as described.

JAMES M. MERRITT.

Witnesses:

J. FRASER, JOHN W. A. MEYER. 

